Couple of reasons. I can build a big stack without needing a long cable that ends up being too long and gets coiled up at the back of the rack. Also I can can build a single stack that can exist as a top of rack switches spanning multiple racks when the first and last members of the stack would be further then the 5m dac cable will reach.  ... View more

You're right, juniper do call this a ring, but I personally call it a redundant chain to delineate between this and style and an actual ring. I've used this topology with multiple other vendors including Cisco Catalyst, Avaya ERS, Aruba and it works. But I'm doing a BOM with Meraki right now and I don't know if I can get away with this topology with Meraki and I don't have enough lab kit to test it. ... View more